No one was under any illusions ahead of this match which was the more important game between Manchester City in the Carabao Cup and Huddersfield Town in the Premier League.

David Wagner was at the Etihad on Thursday night to cast his eye on Fulham and do his scouting ahead of that vital game between to the two at the John Smith's Stadium on Monday night, and he may well have gotten more than he was bargaining for.

Slavisa Jokanovic went with what can be described as his 'best XI' at the moment to take on the current holders of the cup in what looked like a test-run of a side to take on Huddersfield.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ryan Sessegnon, Tom Cairney - they all played the full 90 minutes against City and will feature once more on Monday night.

Read More

He needs minutes for his players to gel, develop the connections on the pitch and play as a unit, and the best way to do that is to play them in matches.

It was always highly unlikely that Fulham would win in Manchester on Thursday night, so it was a free hit for Jokanovic to get more minutes into the legs of the players he will need to perform against Huddersfield.

(Image: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

Give or take a couple of players, I would be very surprised if this isn't the XI that takes to the pitch in Huddersfield on Monday night.

A better performance from the midfield trio

Any Fulham fan can tell you how important the midfield trio is to the way the side play, you don't need me for that.

Jean-Michael Seri, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa and Tom Cairney were all picked to start against City, and it's what most people expected would be the regular trio before the season started.

They haven't played too much together, but we saw the potential at the Etihad of what that trio are capable of.

(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Anguissa, in spells, played the anchor role very well and looked the big, physical presence that Jokanovic has been looking for in his midfield, while Seri looked confident on the ball, with his touch and eye for a pass to play out of trouble highlights.

The key to that area is a bond, and that will come from playing with one another more regularly, but there was certainly spells where they looked on the same wavelength and that will be key to Fulham's hopes this season.

Slowly but surely it's coming together - tonight was a big step in having a functioning midfield.

Read More

Fulham have been all at sea defensively this season, but despite playing against one of the most potent attacks in the world, their shape was far better and more compact that has been all season.

I'm sure people will point to the amount of chances City created to disprove this particular point, but as far as I'm concerned, the City players on show on Thursday could still fight for the Premier League and come extremely close to securing it.

They will create chances against the best defences in the world, so of course they carved out opportunities against Fulham.

(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

That said, what we've seen in recent weeks is Fulham chasing the backs of players towards their own goal, while there have been huge gaps between the midfield and defence which teams have exploited.

Against City, Fulham were far more compact, cutting out space and getting men behind the ball, working in cohesion to cut out chances.

That ran from the attackers, all the way back to the defence.

(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

It's clearly something that is being worked on in training, and while there were iffy moments and lapses of concentration, the solidity will come through playing football matches together.

For me, it was certainly a sign of improvement.

Tim Ream and Denis Odoi at centre back

It wasn't the best of games for Ream and Odoi at the Etihad - the prospect of facing Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane would strike fear into the hearts of even the most established Premier League defenders.

But the pair found it more difficult than most would, and they struggled massively to keep the Brazilian striker at bay during the game.

I don't think this will be the centre back pairing that finishes the league campaign in May, but I do think Jokanovic is using the two together because they know one another and have developed a partnership, something that is crucial to having a stable defence.

(Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

That said, after Ream was taken off for Maxime Le Marchand having endured a terrible evening, I'm not sure that centre back pairing is going to last much longer.

Ahead of the Huddersfield game, I believe most of that XI will start, but I'm unsure if Jokanovic will keep the same centre back pairing or if he will play Le Marchand there.

It's such an important position and Jokanovic cannot afford sentiment - he must choose what he thinks his best pairing is when they travel to Huddersfield.